Computing networks can include multiple network devices including network devices such as routers, switches, hubs, and computing devices such as servers, desktop PCs, laptops, workstations, mobile devices and peripheral devices, e.g., printers, facsimile devices, and scanners, networked together across wired and/or wireless local and/or wide area network (LANs/WANs).
In current blade server/switch environments networks are used having Fiber Channels (FCs) and/or Fiber Channels over Ethernet (FCoE) connections according to existing backbone 5 (BB5) standards and emerging backbone 6 (BB6) draft standards (currently under development), using compliant converged network adapters and control plane software. Currently FCoE standards involve a FC software stack and look up capability at multiple lossless Ethernet switches along the end to end path from initiator (e.g., host) to target device. This involves network 3 (L3) FC hops in communications between end points and rigid, hierarchical, network topologies. An example of an L3 FC hop is an L3 Destination ID (DID) look up, that may occur for example at an FDF, or another example is an FCF lookup, etc.